Donaldson signals DUP could collapse Assembly 'within weeks'
The DUP leader has signaled his party will collapse the Executive within weeks if changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol are not delivered.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has also announced his party's immediate withdrawal from the north-south political structures established under the 1998 Agreement.
It comes as part of intensification of the DUP's campaign of opposition to post-Brexit arrangements that have created trading barriers between Great Britain and NI.
In a speech on Thursday morning, Sir Jeffrey said: "Within weeks it will be clear if there is the basis for the Assembly and Executive to continue in this current mandate, and I want that to happen, but equally we will also need to consider if there is need for an Assembly election to refresh our mandate."
The DUP leader issued the warning on the same day as European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic began a two-day visit to Northern Ireland.
After meeting with business leaders in Newry, Mr Sefcovic said he wants to find out "face-to-face" what the problems are with the implementation of the Protocol.
He called on politicians to "dial down the rhetoric".
Sir Jeffrey said ahead of any move to pull ministers out of Stormont - a step that would bring down the power-sharing institutions - his party was first seeking to challenge the legality of checks on GB to NI trade introduced under the protocol and establish whether their implementation requires the approval of the Executive.
"In the final analysis those who are democratically elected by the people of Northern Ireland lack the power to prevent such checks, if that is the case, if our ministers cannot in the end prevent these checks taking place and if the protocol issues remain then I have to be clear, the position in office of DUP ministers would become untenable," he said.
"If the choice is ultimately between remaining in office or implementing the protocol in its present form then the only option, the only option for any unionist minister would be to cease to hold such office."
The protocol was agreed by the UK and EU as a way to maintain a free-flowing land border on the island of Ireland.
It achieves that by moving many of the checks and processes required on goods to the Irish Sea.
Under the arrangements, Northern Ireland remains in the EU single market for goods and continues to apply EU customs rules.
Unionists in Northern Ireland have been vehemently opposed to its terms which see additional checks on goods arriving to the region from the rest of the UK.
While Sir Jeffrey said the DUP was withdrawing from north-south political bodies, he said his party would seek to ensure continued cross-border co-operation on health issues.
He said ministers would also seek to use their votes at the Executive to block the implementation of any additional checks at NI ports when ongoing grace periods end.
The party leader said the DUP would also oppose the passage of regulations at Stormont required to reflect any changes to EU law applying in Northern Ireland.
Sir Jeffrey warned that the Government's planned move to legislate for Irish language provisions at Westminster would further undermine devolution.
Reacting to the speech, UUP Leader Doug Beattie MLA said while his party also opposes the Protocol, he would not be seeking to withdraw from the Executive.
He added: "We simply cannot afford to have the Stormont institutions collapse and people, not least those hundreds of thousands on waiting lists, won’t thank us for it."
Meanwhile the Sinn Féin leader described Jeffrey Donaldson’s comments as "reckless".
Mary Lou McDonald said: "The Good Friday Agreement institutions of the Assembly, Executive, British-Irish Council, and North-South Ministerial Council and the participation of Executive parties and Ministers within those cannot be cherrypicked.
"The Ministerial Code requires ministers to take part in North-South meetings. To not do so is a clear breach of the code.
“This is a time for calm and mature political leadership."
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood also criticised the DUP stance, accusing the party of holding the people of Northern Ireland to ransom.
"I hoped that Jeffrey Donaldson's leadership would be pragmatic, aimed at resolving the challenges that Brexit has created for all of our communities and acknowledging the need for compromise," he said.
"Instead we have a return to the incendiary rhetoric and threats that got us nowhere for three of the last four years."
Alliance Leader Naomi Long said: "We need people to step away from the precipice and end this constant cycle of crisis.
"My colleagues and I want to get on with our jobs, to deliver progress and tangible benefits for the whole community.
"I believe that is what the vast majority of the public want and deserve, and those threatening to wreck the institutions are behaving in a thoroughly self-interested and cynical manner, which may well be punished by a weary and frustrated population."
Meanwhile the TUV leader, Jim Allister, described "fine words" from Sir Jeffrey - but said "it is actions that count".
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